The Rise of the European Emperor

After arranging everything, Marin was still worried. You know, this time he played too much, plotting against two top powers in Europe at once. If it is discovered, it will definitely not be able to eat and walk around.

Therefore, he worriedly called Kohler back, and added:

"This matter is very important and must not be leaked out. Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous. Let's do this, the spies of the Paris branch of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce who are in charge of finding people in Paris must find the most reliable person to do it. And, after finishing this matter , this most reliable person should also be transferred away from Paris, so as not to be accidentally caught by the French in the future and reveal the secrets. How about this, and then transfer this person to the Americas as a colonial official..."

Kohler nodded, expressing his understanding. But Marin added:

"As for the hired French 'temporary workers', after the mission is completed, let their ship have an accident and sink into the Atlantic Ocean..."

"Understood, we will never let them come back alive!"

"Wait, the French will definitely investigate this matter afterwards. Well, you deliberately leave some clues pointing to the Venetians. The Venetians just happened to be enmity with Spain because of the issue of Indian spices..." Marin thought that one France was not enough, and then It also dragged Venice, which had an enmity with the Spaniards because of spices, into the water.

...

Seeing Marin's uneasy look there, Kohler suddenly said:

"Master, since you are so afraid of being discovered by the Spaniards, why don't you let the French and the Venetians do this? If this is the case, it is indeed them who did it, and we will be able to clear up the suspicion."

Marin was taken aback:

"What's the meaning?"

Kohler thought for a while and said:

"Since you want to put the blame on France and Venice, two countries that are hostile to Spain, why don't you quietly inform them and let them do it? I think they will be happy to make trouble for the Spaniards. "

Marin nodded:

"That's true, but how can people not see our shadow?" After all, secretly notifying France and Venice will also leave traces.

"Why don't you ask your subordinates to pretend to be the Venetians and quietly inform the French. Then let another passer-by pretend to be the French to quietly inform the Venetians... In this way, both sides will mistakenly think that the other party notified themselves, but they will not tell the truth. After all , can make the Spaniards unlucky, they are happy to see..."

Marin slapped his thigh immediately:

"That's a good idea! If it's true that the French and the Venetians are the ones doing the business,

We are indeed easier to hide! Well, the people responsible for notifying the two countries were all sent to America as colonial officials afterwards! In this way, our tail is cleared! "

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away!" Kohler hurriedly went to choose the manpower.

...

Marin sent people to notify France and Venice respectively, hoping that they would each send a mission to Marrakech and the Saad tribe to offer advice. Marin also thought carefully about the choice of providing strategies.

After much deliberation, Marin decided to send someone to suggest that Venice send envoys to Marrakesh to present the main cavalry to harass the supply line of the Spanish army to the Sultan of the Watas dynasty, Abu Abdullah Burtukali Ibn Muhammad. plan. While sending envoys to the Saad tribe to persuade them not to sneak up on the task of attacking the Watas dynasty behind their backs, Marin planned to hand it over to the French.

The reason for doing this is that Marin took into account that France is a large cavalry country. If the French got the advice to the Vatas dynasty and understood the tactics of using cavalry to harass the enemy's supply line, the loss outweighed the gain. Marin is not worried about letting the Venetians implement this suggestion. Because the Republic of Venice is a maritime power, the army is very average, and there are no cavalry. Even if they knew this tactic, there was no cavalry to execute it. France, on the other hand, is unlikely to be inspired to persuade the Saad tribe to stop stabbing in the back.

Of course, if the Wattas dynasty harassed the Spanish supply line in the future, whether it could bring any inspiration to the French, Marin would not be able to control it. But now, Marin doesn't want the French to get such a good tactical idea from the beginning.

...

What Marin didn't know was that while he was worried about the results of the Spaniards, France and Venice were also worried about it.

The Venetians are currently digging the Suez Canal, in order to use the dug Suez Canal in the future to send the main fleet to the Indian Ocean to fight the Spanish fleet. There will be a war between the two countries in the future. And any situation that strengthens Spain's strength is something the Venetians don't like to see.

As for France, it is also an old opponent of the Spaniards. The two countries fought in Italy before, and France also suffered a big loss. It is impossible to say that France does not hate the Spaniards.

Even after receiving the news, Louis XII considered organizing a large army to launch an offensive on the Spanish border to force the Spanish army to return to the country.

However, because of the Habsburg family's offensive in Switzerland, the French couldn't get away for a while. Otherwise, they would have sent troops to deter the Spanish border.

What's more, Spain's super-large army of 50,000 people makes the French a little scared. If Spain is completely angered and this army of 50,000 people is sent to attack France, Louis XII is also a little worried. After all, the war in Switzerland is still going on. Even if the French can withstand the offensive of the Spanish army, they will suffer heavy losses...

In other words, in fact, there is no need for Marin to be bewitched, and the two countries are also gearing up, waiting to drag the Spaniards back. It's just that they didn't understand the situation in Morocco (the information transmission was too backward at that time, and the two countries hadn't paid attention to Morocco before), otherwise the two countries would have made a move.

...

In fact, what Marin didn't know was that while Venice was digging the Suez Canal, it was also digging pits for the Spaniards. And Marin didn't know what the Venetians did.

What did the Venetians do? They secretly encouraged and supported the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt in a decisive battle with the combined fleet of Spain and Portugal in the Indian Ocean...

The blockade of the joint fleet of Spain and Portugal in the Arabian Sea has seriously affected the economy of the Arabian region. Among them, Egypt is the most affected.

Because the core of the economy of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt is the transit trade of the spice trade in India. If Indian spices do not take the Egyptian route, the economy of the Mamluk dynasty will be hit very hard. After all, the main tax revenue of the Mamluk dynasty came from the transit trade of spices.

Moreover, the blockade of the Spanish-Portuguese combined fleet cut off the supply of the Uzi steel used by the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty to make Damascus scimitars, and the Indian Mawari horses ridden by the Sudanese guards. This is a major issue that affects the combat effectiveness of the Egyptian Mamluk cavalry, and it is related to the fate of the country. Therefore, the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty couldn't bear it, and planned to attack the Spanish-Portuguese alliance and fleet on the Arabian Sea.

For this reason, the Mamluk dynasty prepared hundreds of small ships and contacted the Indian princes who were also unbearable, intending to form a joint fleet to destroy the Spanish-Portuguese alliance and the fleet.

But the Venetians prevented the reckless behavior of the Egyptians, because, whether it was the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt or the princes united in India, there was not a single decent warship in their fleet, they were all small troop-carrying boats. Not suitable for naval battles.

Thanks to Marin's reminder, the Venetians are now also attaching great importance to the application of artillery in naval battles. However, after being secretly reminded by Marin, there was still a lot of controversy within the Venetian.

Many conservatives in the Republic of Venice expressed their opposition to Marin's naval battle idea of ​​"replacing the jumping ship with the gang" proposed by Marin. However, many enlightened people, including the Governor, supported the reform of naval warfare, so the Republic of Venice was full of quarrels.

In the end, the Republic of Venice made a compromise decision-in the process of supporting the Egyptian Mamluk Dynasty and the Spanish-Portuguese Union and the fleet naval battle, the supporting warships were half and half. That is to say, the number of improved new-style warships that mainly use artillery is equal to the number of old old warships that are aimed at cutting ships and gangs, and they are all ten.

These 20 warships first arrived in the Gulf of Suez, and then were dismantled into timber by shipbuilders supported by Venice at the seaside, and then transported by land to the Red Sea on the south coast of the Sinai Peninsula, where they were reassembled and restored to their original appearance.

However, the disassembly and reassembly of the 20 warships was time-consuming, taking more than a year. If it weren't for waiting for these ships, it is estimated that the Diu naval battle in the Arabian Sea would have started long ago. Of course, maybe no longer in the Diu sea area. But the Indian prince of Diu was indeed an active member of this combined fleet.

To the surprise of the Egyptians and Venetians, when the two sides cooperated to dismantle and reassemble the warship, the Turks, who had always been at odds with the two countries, also offered to lend a helping hand and supported 50 artillery pieces.

These 50 cannons are all bronze cannons. Although the calibers are not large, they are all suitable for installation on ships for naval warfare.

The reason for this is that the blockade of the Spanish-Portuguese Union and the fleet in the Arabian Sea also hurt the interests of the Turks. Because, the trade between Ottoman Turkey and India is also very frequent. Don't look at India's long-term fragmentation, but its products are very rich. Even the powerful Ottoman Turkey is very dependent on Indian products. Even the Ottoman Empire's long-term competition with Persia for the Iraqi region and the sea trade route from Basra Port to India are also important reasons.

The Spanish-Portuguese United Fleet intercepted and burned merchant ships in the Arabian region indiscriminately in the Arabian Sea, and it also affected the merchant ships of the Turks. The Turks couldn't bear it, but Turkey does not have a powerful navy, let alone a navy in the Indian Ocean.

Just in time, the Turks heard that the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt was going to attack the Spanish-Portuguese alliance and the fleet, so they took the initiative to send artillery and gunpowder, hoping that the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty's fleet could take away the Spanish-Portuguese combined fleet. Otherwise, the trade between the Middle East and India will be completely destroyed.

The Venetians are also happy to use the Turks' bronze cannons, because copper is very expensive in Europe. Even one of the reasons why the conservatives in the Republic of Venice opposed the artillery war was because the price of copper was too expensive. Ottoman Turkey has a lot of cheap copper because of its long-term trade with India, and they have no shortage of copper cannons. This time the Venetians provided warships and the Turks provided copper cannons, which was a perfect cooperation.

The Venetians also attach great importance to the upcoming sea battle, because this is the best touchstone to verify which is better, the artillery battle or the board battle. If which side performs better in naval battles, the future direction of the Venetian navy will be based on this...